In the Spotlight: McKee Floyd

When McKee Floyd’s resumé landed on the desk of Daniel Glass, Founder and a creative mind behind Glassnote Entertainment Group (home to Chvrches, HOLYCHILD, Childish Gambino), one thing stood out: her career had been spent on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. — in politics. Having worked at an internship on The Hill during college, and after working a few years there at a job she landed right out of school, Floyd woke up one morning realizing she wanted to get into music.

“Though I liked what I was doing very much and I liked the people I worked with, I had always been intrigued with music. That door had never really opened,” Floyd explained. “I made a conscious decision to, at that point, open the doors for myself — instead of pushing forward with what was happening. My mentor on The Hill gave me advice that if you want to make a big life change then you should tell everyone you know what you want that change to be. So I soon told everyone I wanted to be in music.”

Saying goodbye to her Capitol Hill days, Floyd soon transitioned into a career in advertising and marketing before moving to New York City and getting that call from Glass for an interview to work at his company.

These days, a lot of what Floyd does in music, requires some of the same skills she developed while working in politics. Her day-to-day job requires building stories for partners about the artists her team is breaking. Similar to politics, Floyd’s job in marketing artists is all about the conversation that takes place while getting someone else on her side to support the music.

My mentor on The Hill gave me advice that if you want to make a big life change then you should tell everyone you know what you want that change to be.

“Getting a bill passed on The Hill requires a lot of finessing, and small, micro support from different staffers, committees, and Congressman. You’re constantly building, which is pretty similar to breaking a record,” Floyd added. “It’s how you think about it, which gives you confidence to then apply the skills you’ve learned in a new environment.”

Thus far in her career, Floyd has pushed herself to be aggressive. “It’s a mixture of relentlessness and confidence that I think can manifest itself in a positive aggression,” she says. Many times aggression can come across negatively, especially for women, and this is one of the biggest challenges women face across every industry, including music. For Floyd, having a deep passion for the music helps her to fuel a positive aggressive energy.

“As a woman in the industry, you can have a hard time to define what an aggressive business style works for you. [Daniel has] encouraged me to define that for myself and to push me in uncomfortable situations,” says Floyd. “In life, a lot of the things that are the most valuable come from uncomfortable situations. If we went to work every day and didn’t have uncomfortable, intimidating, or challenging situations, then we would never grow.”

Floyd’s story shows that landing the right job doesn’t happen immediately, and a linear path isn’t always taken to get there. It’s true: a lot of people sometimes worry about having a cookie cutter version of success. “It’s really important to figure out what your form of success is and feel really good about believing in that,” advises Floyd. “When you look at yourself in the mirror and you can tell yourself what you want, don’t go for the things you think you’re supposed to do.”

If we went to work every day and didn’t have uncomfortable, intimidating, or challenging situations, then we would never grow.

“There’s infinite success for women,” Floyd adds. “Frequently women get competitive with other women because there’s this idea since we’re marginalized in this particular industry, there are only so many of us that can be successful. We only get so much of the pie. But, in reality, the more women that are succeeding in music, the more women can succeed in music.”

Purpose in 140 characters or less: “Really own everyday and make the most out of it. Hopefully in the end, owning all of those days will add up to something really awesome.”